It's about time
by Anahhzp
Summary: Transcendence AU; R!Mabel. Stella aways wanted to travel, specially time travel. Sure, it was already invented, but only the government could use it. Luckily, she had a really awesome friend that would help her with that. (I'm not really sure about the year, but they are from a few decades after Blendin's game in cannon)


"Ok, so, is there any specific reason for you calling me at 5am and making me get up and go to a side alley three streets down the building that we both live in?"

"Hi, good to see you too". The boy looked at the extremely annoyed girl with the messy hair, smirking.

"Did I mention that it's saturday?"

"No. But listen, I have a really good reason for doing it"

"Oh, really? By the way, why are we hiding behind a trash can?", she said almost yelling while gesturing the cans right behind where they were sitting - or more precisely, where he dragged her to as soon as he had seen her turning the corner.

"Shh, don't scream!"

"Don't worry, everyone is sleeping, except maybe for those cats, that gnome that we almost bumped into and, oh yeah, us!", despite the teasing, the annoyance was clear on her voice.

"Ok, ok, listen", the brunette paused, staring at the girl, waiting for her to calm down. She breathed heavily and looked at the opposite wall, breaking the contact between his blue to her green eyes, muttering 'ok' under her breath. "So. Happy birthday", she turned her head back to him with a delay as the words sank in her sleepy head, her eyebrows were furrowed, and before she could say anything, he continued. "And because you're so awesome and because it's good to see that smile of yours that is brighter than anything around here – except maybe for the neon lights", he paused and picked something in his pocket, "I brought you this".

It took her two seconds to identify the object and more or less one minute to comprehend the situation. Her face split in two with an impossibly big smile filled with joy and then she made that funny face as if she was trying hard not to scream with excitement.

"Stella, you're getting red. By the way, if we're going-", he stopped abruptly as she jumped forward and embraced him in a tight hug.

"Thank you so so much Leo". At first, his eyes were widen in surprise, but then his expression softened as he hugged her back.

Moments later she pulled back, and Leo took a serious expression, and continued what he was saying before being interrupted. "Ok, first of all, you're aware that I stole this from my father, right?", she slowly nodded, "Right, so, with we're going to do this, we better hurry, 'cause I need to put this back before he wakes up, and before anyone realise actually", she nodded reluctantly, but object anyway:

"Ok, got it, but don't we have time on our hands? Like, literally?", she said smiling and raising a single eyebrow.

Leo sighed and rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway. "Well, yes. I guess I'm just worrying too much..."

"No, no, it's ok, I got it", Stella said in a rush while nodding. She then took his hand, her fingers touching the device that he was holding, and looked into his eyes. "So", her voice was suggestive and there was a sparkle on her eyes.

The same sparkle was mirrored on his, and when he spoke again, all the seriousness was gone, and he was once again smirking. "So. When are we going? Past or future? Any specific request?"

Stella bit her lower lip, furrowed her eyebrows and started playing with one lock of her dark blue hair. "I think... I think I want a surprise!"

"A surprise? I like the way you think, Sunshine". Leo stood up and helped her right after giving her a malicious smile as he thought about the possibilities – the first expedition to Mars? Mesopotamian? Oh wait, there's a good one. He looked at the device that more looked like a metric tape - which is the very reason why Stella started calling that time-metric(bulous). He glanced at her - she was jumping - and back to device. He pulled the tape and held it with two fingers. "Are you sure you don't wanna choose?"

She reached him from behind and looked over his shoulder, tiptoeing. "Hundred percent sure"

He looked at her and released the tape. "Happy 13th birthday"

At this moment, two things happened at once. Everything slowed down, the few sounds around them and the lights flashing in the main street, and a bright light burst from the time-metric and involved both of them, and everything seemed white for a fraction of seconds. She could feel the reality shifting around them, and a moment later there was a different kind of light, a bright and foreign sky, and the wind blowing at her clothes as she fell.

(And in this precisely moment a certain demon started freaking out because a soul that should be there safe and sound simply vanished with no explanation).

* * *

The sky was blue. That was the only thing that she could knowledge before hitting something soft yet itchy. The fall must have lasted one second, but it felt like ages until she finally reached what seemed to be a pile of straw. Stella looked around and saw an open field, there was just soil and some other piles spread randomly, as if the harvest had just happened.

There were some people here and there, but no one too close. There were no machines and no walls or ceiling, instead there was a sky, a real blue sky and... was that a castle? Yes, it was definitely a not-big-enough-boring-made-of-stone castle.

Which means it worked. They had time traveled and _oh my it's so cool and so amazing and so I don't even know what that it can't be true somebody pinch me we time freaking travelled and- where's Leo?_

She jumped out of the pile and looked frantically around. "Leo! Where are you? Leo? Leeeee-"

"Shh! I'm here". She turned back to the pile, where the voice came from. Out of the pile, Leo's head popped up. "No need to scream", his voice was slightly annoyed and there was a lot of straws stuck on his hair. Stella chuckled.

"How did you even get there?"

"I don't know. But anyway-", he pulled his arms out of the pile and then proceeded to remove some straw in order to free himself, "Uh, some help?". Stella took some quick paces and joined him.

"So, where are we?", Stella asked once he didn't say anything else. His brows were furrowed in concentration.

"If everything went as expected, France, XVIII century". She glanced at him, curious, but him wasn't looking at her, so she asked:

"And why are we here?"

"Because- You know that movie that you like? About a princess or something and that there are a plenty of fancy dresses and stuff?"

"You mean that movie that you aways complain how dumb and inaccurate it is"

"Precisely. So I brought you here to show you that everything isn't just fancy and cute and clean"

"Mission accomplished, 'cause it really doesn't look like the movie, and I'm definitely not feeling like a princess", she said smiling.

"And who said you were supposed to feel like one? I brought you here to give you a history class and, more importantly-", they finally had removed enough straws to allow him to pass through, even though he almost fell face first in the process, and Stella chuckled as he straight himself, as if nothing had happened, "-I'm here to give you an adventure. One that you'll never forget". Leo smirked and she smiled back.

"I can't wait to begin"

"Then let's get going!". Stella jumped to his side.

"Where are we going first?"

"Uh, nowhere, actually", she started to ask something but he cut her off, "We're starting with history. Now, look around", she sighed, but did as he told. "Now, what do you see?"

"Uh, people, soil... piles of some cereal...wheat, maybe?"

"Ok, good. Now tell me, does it look like those piles are everything that they got from the harvest?"

"Uh... Not really, it is too... little"

"Yes, that's the whole point", Stella turned too look at him, "Because of environmental factors they are having agricultural failure, there isn't enough food, and the food that they do have is getting more expensive. There are also too high taxes, due to the expenses with the help in a war and with the nobility. And those are some factor that led to the French Revolution. Now...", Stella had her eyes half closed, all the sleep that she couldn't get earlier returning, "Ok, I'm done, let's go". It was Leo's time to chuckle as her eyes shot open once again.

"Don't get me wrong", she said when they started walking, "History class have never been so cool, really, but it's not history class. We are in the actual - what was it again? Oh, right, XVIII century and if you would please..."

"Shut up and get to action?", she gestured and dramatically said 'yes', "Then hurry up that I just saw our transport", Leo grabbed her hand and pulled her along, causing her to yelp. Crossing the field, there was a road that she hadn't notice before, even though there was high grass on each side.

They ran to there and ducked, waiting for the cart to get closer. It was made of wood, had four big wheels, was horse-drawn and there was a man riding it. It was open and was carrying a huge pile, like one of those in the field. When it got closer, the man didn't notice they, neither when they jumped inside behind the pile.

Stella looked at Leo, her eyes were widen and she couldn't help but smile, this felt like being spies. "What now?", she said half-whispering.

"Now we wait Sunshine", Stella made a face.

"Fine. But tell me one thing, didn't you say there was a revolution or something happening?", he nodded, "Ok, so are we safe? Is there something big going to happen while we're here or...", she trailed off, expecting him to explain, but his reply wasn't very reassuring.

"The chances of something happening today are very low"

"In other words you have no idea"

"What, do you want me to know which day is today? It's already something that I got us in the right year!", he was totally annoyed.

"Shh, ok, ok", she chuckled and passed her hand through his hair, messing it, "Just wake me up when we get to the 'big city' or whatever. It's really cool, but I woke up at 5am", She heard him saying 'fine' and lied on the pile. It didn't take long until she fall asleep.

* * *

About two hours later they stopped in a market. Stella was already awaken and the two of them wasted no time in leaving their transport, being careful not to be seen by the man.

The market was in a reasonably big square, and there were stalls all around the place, with plenty of people walking around. This time, was Stella who pulled Leo, leading through the corridors formed between the lines of stalls, stopping every now and then to look at something.

Half of the stalls was selling food, and she promptly ignore those, but some sold fabrics in all kinds of prints and colors, differently from others selling dull dresses. She stopped every time she saw something colorful, but it was just when she was spending a little bit more time than usual in a stall with some quite interesting jewelry that she realized something.

And that happened when she had already spend some time staring at a necklace - it was silver and the pendant was a blue stone - and the woman, noticing her interest, decided to say something.

Well, the problem is that she had no idea of what that something was. She laughed nervously and raised one finger in an universal gesture of wait, and then inclined to the side to whisper in Leo's ear. "Uh, what do I do?"

Leo, who was just standing there and watching this whole time, furrowed his brows.

"Did you bring your mobile?"

"Uh, yes..."

"Ok, so we can use the translator in the next time"

"The next-", Leo pushed her aside, looked at some random direction and waved, as if calling someone. Then he waved goodbye to the woman and pulled Stella in a rush. "What the heck was that?", she asked when the stall was out of sight.

Leo frowned. "I didn't want to handle with her, we had already messed up. But anyway, she was probably expecting that you would buy that necklace, and we have no money"

Stella huffed. "Ok... So, you wanna do something else or...?"

"You can continue looking the things if you want, but first, open the translator before we forget". Stella mumbled 'ok' in response and took the translucent object in her pocket. The screen lit when she moved her finger through it and she opened the app. A moment later, everything that the people said around them was translated and appeared as a text in the device.

And in that moment a boy, probably six years old, stumbled on Stella. She turned around to face the boy, who looked at her and said something. She, as well as Leo, looked at the mobile's screen, where read: 'your hair is funny'. She looked at the boy, even more confused than before, but before she could think of what to do, he turned and walked away.

Leo put one hand over her shoulder. "I was thinking that they would find weird that you aren't using a dress, but I totally forgot about your hair"

Stella stared at him, eyes widen. "What's about my hair?!"

Leo smirked. "People at this time didn't dye their hair blue, neither had wigs in this color". Stella pouted. "Maybe we can cover your hair with something..."

And then they went to one stall and exchanged Leo's watch - 'It's old anyway' - for a scarf.

* * *

Half an hour later they were walking in one street when they saw a church. Stella took some seconds to realize that Leo wasn't following her. She turned around and saw him staring at the church and biting the inside of his cheek.

"There's something that I always wanted to do"

"And what would that be?", she asked raising a brow.

He looked her her. "Mess with some priests"

"Oh, really? And how exactly do you want to do this?"

Leo grasped his hands together. "First, now it really comes to hand that I know Latin, I can use this. And second..."

"What?", Stella asked, curious.

"Do you wanna see?", there was a sparkle on his eyes.

"Yes, I do". And they entered the church.

(Five minutes later they stormed out of the building on Leo's hoverboard - one that shrinks enough to fit on his pocket - with some priests yelling 'witchcraft' or something like this. Leo may have entered saying that he was a great all-seeing wizard and then do some basic spells that they had learned in the elementary).

* * *

They had already slowed down the pace, but had only decided to walk instead of using the hoverboard when they bumped into a man, Marquis de Lafayette he said.

"Lafayette?", Leo asked. Then he took Stella's mobile and typed something on the translator, pausing to murmur "What's the name again? Oh, yeah", and after finishing he asked the man if he was the guy who wrote the Declaration of Rights of Man.

Instead of answering, he just stared at the mobile on Leo's hand. Than he seemed to snap out and looked at his pocket watch. His eyes widened and he said 'goodbye- and that's a good name, what you said', and left.

Leo and Stella glanced at each other. "Hum, I think he didn't write that thing yet...". Stella laughed and Leo was smiling, but it soon faded as he heard something. He glanced around and... yep, that was exactly what he thought. Stella noticed the change and asked what was the problem. "Don't look now but there are two agents from the Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadron in the other side of the street"

"Wha-", she started saying - in a not really low tone - while turning around to see. Having already predicted her reaction, Leo quickly took her hand and pulled her to an alley.

"Right, it was really fun, but I think it's time to go", Stella nodded. Leo put his hand on his pocket and...

"What? What's the problem?"

Leo's eyes were widen and he stuttered before finally saying "It's not here, it's gone, I-I don't know what happened!"

Stella took a deep breath. "Maybe it fell when we bumped into Lafayotty or something"

"Right, right. That's probably the case", he was so nervous that didn't even bother to correct her. "Just stay here and I will go back and check"

"Ok. Be careful", he nodded and ran back to where they were.

Stella looked him leaving, sighed and pressed her back against the cold wall, slipping to the ground. She sat and closed her eyes, listening the people walking and chatting in the street, the church's bell ringing, one carriage passing by and...

'Blip'

She opened her eyes and met another pair, her green eyes staring at gold and black ones. She let out a struggled scream and when the demon stepped - or floated – back, she made an attempt to stand up, but failed miserably as she tried to do so in such a a haste that she lost her balance and fell over her butt. The impact shocked her, and it cleared her mind just enough to see that the demon in front of her wasn't attacking or anything like this. Still, she was far from relieved. Even though he wasn't only a few inches of her face anymore, he was fully focused on her, staring with wide eyes and a tiny smile. His expression was kind of creepy, especially because it reminded her of a cat that have just cornered a rat. And she was feeling like said rat right now.

Stella curled her arms around her legs, trying to look as small as possible, while staring back at the demon, eyes also wide - but with fear - and waited expectantly for his next move. Stella wasn't sure how long she waited, it seemed like ages to her, but was probably only some seconds until the demon finally broke the silence. She wasn't expecting for what came next.

"I. Finally. Found you". Stella gulped. She didn't give a shit that this whole situation didn't make any sense - aham - the only thing that she could think of was a huge fat cat pinning the tiny little rat with his sharp claws, picking it up while it struggled in vain, before being swallowed by the feline. But that's just the big picture, she was actually mainly paying attention on the 'soundtrack', which was basically 'I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie'.

But, about the part of not caring about the absurd of the situation, that was actually a lie. A small part of her mind was dying to understand what was happening, and it was coincidentally the part that was still able to think. But not able to rationalise, apparently, once the next thing that she noticed was that she was asking "You were looking for me?" in such an innocent tone as if it wasn't a freaking demon in front of her.

Luckily, to her surprise - and relief - he simply replied "Yes", with no trace of malice in his voice, not at all. This only made her more confused and curious and she couldn't shut the fuck up and she was now asking "Why?" and waiting expectantly for his answer.

The pause that he made before speaking was so brief that she barely noticed. "Well, because I was kinda watching you - but not exactly - and then you simply disappeared with no explanation, and this kind of thing shouldn't happen so, yeah, I was looking for you. And it was a bit tricky, I've got to say, because first I had to understand what happened and then track down the specific time that you had travelled to".

Stella said "Oh", as if it was totally understandable and that the fact that he was watching her wasn't creepy or worrisome at all. And then something else crossed her. "And you took... eight hours?"

He furrowed his brows. "Ok, I admit that I'm not super expert with those kind of things, it's been sometime since I last had to rescue a certain someone with the worst luck ever- but anyway, I can do better than that! I probably only took half an hour max, not eight- why eight?"

"Uh", he spoke the last part rather quickly, and Stella had to organize her thoughts before being able to understand what he said and give a proper answer. "'Cause it's how long I'm here, more or less?", even though it was supposed to be a statement, it came out more like a question, to which he answered with "Oh"

The moment follows with a not-so-awkward-or-tense silence in which both of them focused on nothing in specific. Stella hears him mumbling something like 'stupid damn specific time' and 'stupid delay'.

When he speaks again, it's louder and it snaps Stella out and drifts her attention back to him. "But how exactly did you come here?"

"With a time traveling device?"

"Yeah, I figured that much, but wasn't those things allowed only to the government?"

"It's borrowed", he raised a brow. "Kinda. I mean, the idea was to give it back but-"

"But?"

"I'm not sure if I know it's location"

"So you lost it"

"Maybe...". He facepalmed.

"Ok, whatever. Just let's go already". Stella was worryingly calm this whole time, but this last statement caused the despair to fill her once again. "W-Where?", she said while jumping to her feet, succeed this time, and widening her eyes once again with fear.

"Back to your time?", he said as if she was dumb or something and she mentally slapped herself because it did indeed looked like so. And then he was behind her pushing her forward, as if he was going to physically take her somewhere.

"Wait, wait!", she said while turning around to face him. "I can't go now, I... I...". 'Quick, think of an excuse!', she thought. Fine, this was a nice chat and stuff and she was still alive! But she wouldn't trust the demon to take her anywhere, not to mention that L- oh, right, let's use it. "I can't leave my friend!", Yeah, that's right, keep going. "My friend is also here and I can't leave him, I've got to get him first"

"Ok, so tell me where he is and I-"

"No!", she didn't think before yelling, and the demon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Stay here and I'll do it", Stella said more calmly now, but his expression didn't falter. "I mean, think about it", she gestured with her hands while explaining,"you'll probably scare him if you just pop there or whatever, not to mention the people around, so just let me do it"

For a moment, nothing happens, and she got increasingly more desperate and 'oh no what if he knows that I'm not fucking coming back and simply takes me to wherever he wants and-'

He shrugs and say "Fair enough. I'll wait then". A moment pass before his words sink, and she was so relieved that almost sighed, but her shoulders - that until now she hadn't noticed how tense were - visibly relax.

She slowly turns around, walk to the entry of the alley and turns once again, seeing that the demon was still floating in the same place - no, she didn't imagine everything - and reluctantly waves her hand as if say 'bye'.

The next thing she knows is that she is running in the main street. She bumped into some people that might or might not have turned and angrily yelled at her, but she didn't care, the only thing in her mind was 'I need to find Leo', that repeated over and over like a mantra.

The funny thing is that she was so focused on that that she didn't even noticed until it was to late and she bumped face first into someone just slightly taller than her. She recovered rather quickly, but now her mind was racing faster than before and she couldn't stop repeating 'I'm sorry', even though it wasn't even the right language here.

Then she felt hands holding her - the person's hands - and she froze. "Stella! Why are you here, what happened, Sunshine?". She looked up and saw Leo. The sigh that she had restrained earlier came out now.

She shook her head. "Don't worry, it's... it's nothing. Did you find the time-metric? I think I saw those guys passing by"

Leo looked into her eyes as if to be sure that she wasn't lying, before finally saying "Yes, I found it", she started to say something, but Leo cut her. "You sure that it's nothing?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Just let's go". Leo wasn't fully convinced but didn't push her further.

He took the device from his pocket and noticed that his hands were shaking. Stella also noticed.

"Just let me do it", she said while reaching for the device, but before she could do so, Leo pulled out of her range.

"I don't think you know how to use it"

"It's not hard to figure out", she was still trying to take it and he was moving it around preventing her to do so, and it was getting ridiculous.

"Still"

"Let me do it, Leo"

"No, you'll probably get us in a totally random time"

"I wont!", her fingers caught it and Leo pulled the device. The tape was stretched and when both of them realized what happened it was already too late.

They stared wide eyed at each other as the light engulfed them and took the two teens to who knows where.

* * *

"What did I say that you were probably going to do?"

"Take us to a totally random time..."

"And what did you do?"

"Oh, come on it wasn't my fault! It's also yours"

She had a feeling that they were even further in the past, but it didn't matter.

"Oh, really?

"Fine, if you think that it's my fault, then let me fix this"

"No, wait. Stop it!". And they were tangled once again fighting for the device. And so, the soon traveled again.

"Look what you're doing!"

"What am I doing? You're the one doing something"

And again.

"Oh, really, and what would that be?"

And again.

"I don't know! You tell me!"

Again.

"You don't even know-

Again.

-what you're talking abou-". The device was suddenly burning in their hands, and their first reflex was to drop it and scream once the pain of the burn hit them. The time-metric went flying and they starred at it wide eyed as it hit the ground. They could see thee static around it.

"I think it might be broken", Stella said some seconds later.

"Congrats, genie"

"Cut it already", it wasn't usual to see him angry, but right now she really didn't want to think about it.

"When even are we?"

They looked around them, and she was surprised to see that it did look like home: the buildings, the neon lights, the screen announcing the new Globnar - the picture showed a boy and a girl sitting in a weird place, it was probably in the past, but not as far as they were only minutes ago, and she was confused because why kids? and why kids from this far in the past? - and there was also some guys fighting and shooting at each other and- oh hell what kind of laser gun was that?

"Shit, we're still in the past", Leo voiced exactly what she was thinking.

"What now?", Stella turns to look him, who was currently biting his lower lip and looking at nothing in specific.

"I don't k "What did I say that you were probably going to do?"

"Take us to a totally random time..."

"And what did you do?"

"Oh, come on it wasn't totally my fault! It's also yours"

She had a feeling that they were even further in the past, but it didn't matter.

"Oh, really?

"Fine, if you think that it's my fault, then let me fix this"

"No, wait. Stop it!". And they were tangled once again fighting for the device. And so, the soon traveled again.

"Look what you're doing!"

"What am I doing? You're the one doing something"

And again.

"Oh, really, and what would that be?"

And again.

"I don't know! You tell me!"

Again.

"You don't even know-

Again.

-what you're talking abou-". The device was suddenly burning in their hands, and their first reflex was to drop it and scream once the pain of the burn hit them. The time-metric went flying and they stared at it wide eyed as it hit the ground. They could see the static around it.

"I think it might be broken", Stella said some seconds later.

"Congrats, genie"

"Cut it already", it wasn't usual to see him angry, but right now she really didn't want to think about it.

"When even are we?"

They looked around them, and she was surprised to see that it did look like home: the buildings, the neon lights, the screen announcing the new Globnar - the picture showed a boy and a girl sitting in a weird place, it was probably in the past, but not as far as they were only minutes ago, and she was confused because why kids? And why kids from this far in the past? - and there was also some guys fighting and shooting at each other and- oh hell what kind of laser gun was that?

"Shit, we're still in the past", Leo voiced exactly what she was thinking.

"What now?", Stella turns to look him, who was currently biting his lower lip and looking at nothing in specific.

"I don't know"

"Maybe we should split up, see if we can get a new device"

"It's dangerous"

"Seriously? It's not too different from our time, and we can handle that. Also, we have some time until they track us again"

"The only good thing that we get from breaking the time-metric"

"Correction: one good thing from breaking the time-metric". Leo rolled his eyes, but his lips curled into a smile.

"Fine. Let's split up then. We meet again in half an hour?"

"Sure"

"Good luck"

"You too"

He then went down the street and she turned left, heading downtown. Stella tried to avoid the people by staying in the shadows, and it was everything ok so far, even though she strangely crossed any member of Time Anomaly Removal Crew or whatsoever. Seriously, where are these guys when you need them?

She was walking for almost twenty minutes already and nothing. She was already losing her hopes, but no, she had to try. Maybe if she tried a different plan? Whatever. Stella was saw a bench and sat on it. She leaned over hands, looking behind the bench and huffed. No, she hadn't given up, she was just thinking. Thinking about kicking somebody's leg or calling Leo.

She sighed and sank in the bench, while reaching for her mobile in her pocket. She opted by the second one.

It rang three times before she hear his voice. "Hey, Leo. Did you find something?". She could hear him sighing in the other side of thhe line.

"No, nothing. Did you?"

"No, same here. So what now?"

"I-I... I don't know. Keep looking?", he chuckled dryly, "It's probably pointless, but-", he took a deep breath, and Stella closed her eyes. He didn't have any hope. "But we also don't have any other option. I mean, we could aways go directly ask for them to take us back, but it wont end well for us"

"You right... So, just keep looking?"

"I guess?"

"Ok. Bye, Leo"

"Bye, Sunshine". She ended the call a put the mobile back in her pocket, sinking even futher in the bench.

And then she heard someone clearing his throat. She turned around and almost had a heart attack.

"Oh no. You're here"

"Yes, and, for some reason, so are you", the nice dressed demon said.

"Oh dude. Ok, here's the thing: my friend found the device, but when we tried to get back, we, uh, kind of had an argument and we screwed up and now we're stuck here, 'cause now the device is gone for good, and oh shit, what are we going to tell his father?"

"Wait, you stoled this from his father?", Stella nodded. "You two seriously must be more careful", she now was looking at him with a extremely puzzled face, which was kind of funny. "Ok, now will you let me help you?"

"How will you do it?"

"We will make a deal"

"Uh, I don't think I...". She trailed off. What was she thinking? Yes, she knew very well how dangerous it was, but which choice did they have? The chances to find a new device were little and they would probably get stuck there forever. Or ask for help and get into trouble - more than what they already are. Ugh. She took a deep breath, stood up and looked up at the demon. "Which are your conditions?"

"Not much, I assure you", she nodded.

"Ok... I want you to get us back to our time, fix our device, or give a new one, whatever, but Leo's father can't notice that we took it, and the same goes to the Time Anomaly Removal Crew-"

"They are already following you?"

"Yeah. I think we messed a bit the things back there. But anyway, I guess that's everything. You'll take us back and it will be as if we had never done that", this time was his turn to nod. "Ok, but what do you want?"

"First of all, you won't use those devices ever again", her eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. "Second, I want your friend's memories as well"

"Wait, what?!"

"You heard"

"Isn't there anything else that you can ask instead of this?"

"No, those are the conditions. Now, d҉̠o̡͖̜̜ ̜͓̯͓͢w̹̙̥̖̘̝͜ę̦̦̖̣͙̲̼ ̗̱̣̹͞ha̳͓̲̘͙̲̱v̞̰͔̖̫͚̀e̞̲͉ͅ ̱a͇͟ d̙͙̱̙͚ͅea͈̣̥ḽ͞?̺"

She looked at his hand, which was engulfed in blue fire, and gulped. Seriously, what was she doing?

And then Stella took his hand.

* * *

It was unsettling.

It seemed that the day had started once again, indeed as if nothing had happened. But the problem is that it did, even though she was the only one that could remember.

When Leo called her that day, it wasn't 5am and, even though he seemed happy and up to give her the best birthday ever, she could see that something was wrong, as if it wasn't good enough, as if he felt like he had failed. And the worst was that he hadn't, and she couldn't fucking tell him, how could her?

 _"I'm here to give you an adventure. One that you'll never forget"_. It was a shame that the same couldn't be applied to him.

If she hadn't been so stubborn and messed up, she wouldn't have to make that deal, and he would still remember how incredibly awesome he was and how happy he made her, but nooo, she had to screw up.

It was hard to hide how sick she felt.

* * *

It was a week until she couldn't hold anymore. She could remember perfectly everything that happened in her birthday, an her talk with the demon was something that simply wouldn't leave her mind. And it was driving her crazy. So, she decided to do a really irresponsible thing - not that it would make any difference, she had already made so many others.

Well, she decided to summon him. Actually, it wasn't that hard, she only had to wait until she was alone at home and draw the summoning circle, which she easily found on the internet.

She read the Latin and the candles flickered, the fire turning blue, and a black smoke appeared in the middle of the circle, taking form, until she was finally facing Alcor the Dreambender.

"I don't think I said my name"

"You didn't have to, you know. Even though the law says that what I'm doing right now is illegal, you're quite famous"

"Yeah, I guess so. But what do you want?"

"Remember when I asked you why you were looking for me? Well, I don't think you gave me a proper answer"

"So you want an answer? Well, I won't give it for free", she made a face, "What about you answering me something too?"

"I guess it's a deal?", she raised a brow, smirking. He giggled.

They shook hands and that same blue fire engulfed their hands. "So, what do you wanna know?", Stella asked while retrieving her hand.

"I was just curious... Why did you two time travelled?"

"Well, it was my birthday, and it was Leo's present for me", she sighed. "I... I always wanted to travel, doesn't matter if it's through space, time or dimension, I just... I don't know, it's just too fascinating, and sometimes I feel like I'm stuck here, and I feel like, if I get out of here... I don't know. Anyway, back to my question, why were you watching me?"

"I care about you". Stella raises both brows.

"Oh, really? 'Cause you partially destroyed my dream with that deal, and also took my friend's memories"

"I didn't destroy anything, you just can't use one of those devices anymore"

"Yeah, but I will never be able to time travel again"

"Who said that?"

"What? You're offering to help me?"

"I never said that"

"Doesn't matter, I won't make any other deal with you anyway"

"Ok, I'm not saying that I am, but - if I was offering to help you with that - I wouldn't exactly need a deal"

"Why not?"

"Because no", she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but seriously, you didn't give me a straight answer. Why would you care about a random girl?"

"I don't you're not random. Oh, wait. I always forget to mention..."

"What? What did you forget to mention?". He only giggled, and she got even more annoyed, and he would say anything.

"Anyway. It was nice to talk to you. Mind if I show up more times?"

"No, but what did you forget to mention?", she was almost yelling now.

"Bye!"

"No, wait!"

Aaand he blipped out of existence.

"Son of a bitch"

* * *

He showed up again two days later, and she almost chocked with her juice. He was totally going to pay.

word count: 6,707


End file.
